ipy:IPY Blogsindex.php?ipy/content/ipyblogs
enInternational Polar FoundationCopyright 20092009-01-24T13:22:00+00:00Two months to the launch!http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/two_months_to_the_launch/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/two_months_to_the_launch/It’s less than two months before the first Hot Countdown of the REXUS 6 student rocket campaign. Here are some details about the NISSE payload:
The NISSE payload description
The REXUS 6 rocket campaign is approaching. Currently, the first Hot Countdown is scheduled to be on the 10th March, 2009. Vidar HEducators, Participants, Atmosphere, Space, Arctic, Finland, Norway, Sweden2009-01-22T19:47:01+00:0060.384158 5.330175Sun shadows Project updatehttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/sun_shadows_project_update/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/sun_shadows_project_update/At the end of 2007, teacher Turtle Haste’s eighth-grade class at James Monroe Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico reported on a project to measure sun shadows all over the world, including at several Antarctic stations. to better understand how the Earth and the Sun interact, and how the seasons progress.
The project is going strong, and there is now a call for everyone to join in. There is a new project page up, and also a Google Map that shows recent measurements:
View Larger Map
By Stefan GeensEducators, People, Space, Bi-polar2009-01-12T19:52:00+00:00EISCAT testing for NISSEhttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/eiscat_testing_for_nisse/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/eiscat_testing_for_nisse/Christmas is approaching fast and the NISSE team is busy, but let’s have a look what happened few weeks ago considering the NISSE EISCAT activity.
The longer the polar night gets the more suitable time it is for ground-based auroral measurements in the north. During a couple of weeks before the ‘Above The Poles’ day, several space physicists from the University of Oulu, the SodankylEducators, Participants, Atmosphere, Space, Arctic, Finland, Norway, Sweden2008-12-19T19:14:01+00:0069.5864 19.2272NISSE - A Student Rocket Project to Study the Upper Polar Atmospherehttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/nisse_a_student_rocket_project_to_study_the_upper_polar_atmosphere/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/nisse_a_student_rocket_project_to_study_the_upper_polar_atmosphere/Background
NISSE may evoke for some of us a short Elf type fellow with a long beard and a red knitted cap. According to an old tradition Norwegian farmers believe that if Nisse lives in their barns, they will be blessed. Therefore around Christmas when the Nisses are active, they prepare food for them and, believe it or notEducators, Participants, Atmosphere, Space, Arctic, Finland, Norway, Sweden2008-12-01T04:56:00+00:00First non-Chinese Journalist Participating in Chinese Antarctic Expeditionhttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/first_non_chinese_journalist_participating_in_chinese_antarctic_expedition/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/first_non_chinese_journalist_participating_in_chinese_antarctic_expedition/SciencePoles science journalist Jean de Pomereu is currently aboard the research and logistics ice breaker, the Xue Long (Snow Dragon), covering the 25th Chinese Antarctic expedition (CHINARE).&nbsp; As the first ever non-Chinese journalist allowed to take part in a Chinese Antarctic expedition, Mr. de Pomereu will document this seasonParticipants, Press, Atmosphere, Ice, Land, Oceans, Space, Antarctic, China2008-11-24T17:01:01+00:00Into the Arctic with Students On Icehttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/into_the_arctic_with_students_on_ice/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/into_the_arctic_with_students_on_ice/I am traveling from Toronto to Ottawa and the train has just started moving. I’m passing a familiar skyline of the CN Tower, downtown, the Don Valley, and hopefully soon I’ll see Lake Ontario on my right. I lived in Toronto for 5 years and though I haven’t been back often, the scenery remains a home from home.
Ottawa will be all new to me, and I’m glad to have grounded myself in the familiar for my first jet-lagged evening. I will be met by someone from Students On Ice at the train station, and presumably a handful of soon-to-be-friends also arriving on this route. (The heavens have opened, so much for my scenic train journey.)
How do I feel? Excited, apprehensive, confident, intrigued, honoured, calm. I love the feeling before an adventure. That space which occurs after the last minute frenzy and packing of bags, and before the Next Thing on the Agenda. In this case, an IPY Arctic expedition with Students on Ice. But right now is magic time: no-one knows where I am, how to find me, what I’m doing, where I’m going, what I’m thinking. Whatever is in my bags will have to make do, whichever letters never got sent will have to wait until I return home, whatever I shall need to prepare has yet to be finalised. I can float.
I first heard about Students on Ice and their expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic in 2005, on the Isle of South Georgia, as I was returning from Antarctica. Not long after, I wrote to the Executive Director asking for a job. He didn’t have one, but we kept in touch. A year after that I started working for IPY, and two more years on, here I am. Not working for them, but with them, as part of the Education Team. I am therefore really looking forward to thisEducators, Atmosphere, Ice, Land, Oceans, People, Space, Arctic, Canada2008-08-03T02:51:00+00:0043.86868 -78.89093IPY Data - Challenges and Opportunitieshttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/ipy_data_challenges_and_opportunities/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/ipy_data_challenges_and_opportunities/This recent article on Earthzine from three members of the IPY Data Management Committee presents the opportunities and the challenges of meeting IPY’s data goals in both historical and global contexts.&nbsp; The article reminded me, again, of the powerful impact IPY can have on the future of scientific information, and that achieving that impact requires resources (of course) but more importantly commitment and cooperation from the IPY participants.&nbsp; If you wonder why you continue to hear, from the IPO, from your funding agencies, and from the IPY Data and Information Services, reminders about the importance of metadata and data registration and data archiving, this article provides the reasons and the context.&nbsp; Thanks to Ellsworth, Mark, and Taco for producing a clear and compelling report.Participants, Atmosphere, Ice, Land, Oceans, People, Space2008-04-10T19:56:00+00:00Substorm studies in Icelandhttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/substorm_studies_in_iceland/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/substorm_studies_in_iceland/Noora Partamies describes experiences from a substorm school in Iceland, part of IPY project 63; ICESTAR/IHY.
Once again the space physics group of the University of Bergen put together a substorm school for Master and PhD students in space physics. This time the course was organised together with Finnish Meteorological Institute. Six students and two lecturers from Norway met three students and two lecturers from Finland for ten days in late November to learn, observe and discuss substorm related processes in the near Earth space.
The course location was a small FosshEducators, Participants, Space, Arctic, Finland, Iceland, Norway2007-12-13T00:15:00+00:0063.93 -20.99IGY 50 Years Down the Road: Kiruna Observatory and the Politics of Arctic Geophysicshttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/igy_50_years_down_the_road/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/igy_50_years_down_the_road/Kiruna Geophysical Observatory was launched 50 years ago on July 2nd.&nbsp; Sverker SParticipants, Press, Land, People, Space, Arctic, Sweden2007-07-02T08:01:00+00:0067.8 20.4Greenland Space Symposiumhttp://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/greenland_space_symposium/
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/greenland_space_symposium/Space scientists performing boundary layer experiments at the edge of Greenland ice cap.
Introduction
The Greenland Space Science Symposium was arranged in Kangerlussuaq as part of the International Polar Year activities from the 4 to 9 May.&nbsp; The Symposium solemnized the rich history of Greenland as a forum for versatile instrumentation monitoring various processes in the near-Earth space. For example, the behavior of ionospheric electric currents have been monitored now for 35 years with Danish magnetometer chains operating in the Greenland coastal regions. Almost equally long data records (25 years) of plasma densities, velocities, and temperatures have been collected with the US incoherent scatter radar operating in Kelly Ville. Roughly 70 space scientists from 14 countries participated the Symposium whose program included historical reviews, scientific presentations and introductions of state-of-art instrumentation. Contents of these presentations are planned to be published in special issues of scientific journals so we below concentrate mainly to the informal part of the meeting.
First appearance
What an interesting flight from Stratton Air Base in Albany (New York) to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland! Interesting because it was full of cargo and people, because we were all keen on getting to our destination, and because it was too noisy to hold a conversation - and scientist are never quiet. After 6-7 hours sleep on a hammock type seat we finally landed in sunny, almost snow-free Kangerlussuaq. The air temperature surprised all of us who had dressed warm for the possibly chilly flight. It was around 0C with almost no wind. Amazing!
Gentle hills around the town in a river valley, snow on the northern slopes, and lots of daylight. To me the place looked much like Longyearbyen on Svalbard. I felt like home from the start and found people to go out hiking with as soon as we got breakfast the next morning.&nbsp; A few hours in the wilderness and the first glimpse of the huge inland glacier made us ready to start the meeting after a great lunch.
Business
First two days were intended to meet the interests of the local people in addition to opening the mind for us scientists. It was delightful to hear about the science history in Greenland, the past excursions and campaign, the move of the incoherent scatter radar, and all the interesting memories from the people involved. We learnt to respect the size of the arctic hares before we even saw any (Thanks to Bob Robinson!).
Excursions
The excursion of the week to us to the inland icecap. Many of us had never been walking on a glacier before but for all of us the ice showed all the different shades of blue. Absolutely stunning! And since scientists never really grow up, we experienced a lovely hour or so walking, gliding, slipping and bum sliding on the ice. Independently of our age, we all played and had a lot of fun. We had lunch at a glacier viewpoint and the local wildlife was introduced to us by our guide and bus driver on the way. What more could one hope? ...well, the radar tour, of course. Another bumpy bus ride took us to the SPeople, Space, Arctic, Greenland, Conferences & Workshops2007-05-16T18:16:00+00:00